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Gemma has been in and out of hospitals since she was born. 'A sickly child', her lonely life to date has revolved around her home, school and one best friend, Alice. But when she discovers her father's connection to the top secret Haven research facility, currently hitting the headlines and under siege by religious fanatics, Gemma decides to leave the sanctuary she's always known to find the institute and determine what is going on there and why her father's name seems inextricably linked to it.

Amidst the frenzy outside the institute's walls, Lyra - or number 24 as she is known as at Haven - and a fellow experimental subject known only as 72, manage to escape. Encountering a world they never knew existed outside the walls of their secluded upbringing , they meet Gemma and, as they try to understand Haven's purpose together, they uncover some earth-shattering secrets that will change the lives of both girls forever...

I am a HUGE fan of Lauren Oliver, so I was really excited when she was coming out with another book. And not only was this one book but two books in one! How cool, how exciting, I thought. How naive I was. Because to me, without the fact that this is “two books in one!!!!” there isn’t much of a story here. When you go from one side to another, there are missing pieces and vagueness between the accounts just so that you have to read the other side and I was not really here for it tbh. I was anticipating so much more from this one and I was just left disappointed.

The idea itself is really cool. Two girls who are from opposite worlds collide and have to unravel a mystery about their pasts and what it means for their future. And maybe it would have been different if I had read both points of view at the same time, but I feel like in Lyra’s section there is a huge “whoa!” moment that would almost spoil Gemma’s side? I feel like there was too much of wanting this to be cool rather than it actually being cool. To me, it was like Illuminae — if you take out all the “fanciness” and the different format of writing the story, you aren’t left with much and mostly just feel disappointed at the end.

I really liked the characters. I thought they all had interesting stories and feelings. The characters were probably the best part because they were reacting to different situations rather than making stupid decisions. Like, none of them could really anticipate anything that was happening, they were just trying to go with the flow. And I liked that Gemma knew when she could do things on her own and when she needed to call in for help from adults and her friends. She didn’t try to do too much on her own and I really admired her for that. Lyra was interesting to read from her perspective because she was so literal and forward with what she thought and did. I liked that she wanted to be more than what was anticipated of her.

I thought that in terms of world-building though, that it was REALLY lacking. There was some explanation across both points of view, but I still felt like there was a lot of missing information that was needed for me to understand this story in general. It also left it on a weird cliffhanger and I felt like it didn’t really make sense to end the story where it did? Maybe that was just me.

Overall I was really disappointed with this one. I was anticipating this great new SciFi type novel from one of my favourite authors and instead I got two half completed books that don’t even come together to form a completed novel. I might continue with this series but I haven’t decided yet.

Rating breakdown

Plot

Characters

World-building

Pacing

Writing

Cover

Overall:

Goodreads updates

0.0%: “I’m starting with Gemma, reading it all the way through, then reading Lyra. Dani is going to do the opposite so when we review you’ll see from both perspectives”

12.0%: “70/294. I’m enjoying Gemma’s story but I’m not loving how this is written. the writing is not the greatest.”

17.0%: “awh man now I want waffles”

24.0%: “if you could see my face right now”

27.0%: “I have a theory”

30.0%: “this feels to me like Illuminae in the sense that without the “fanciness” there wouldn’t be much of a story.”

54.0%: “294/294. I’ve finished the Gemma side. and like I said, without this “fanciness” not much of a story. I’m starting Lyra now and will let you know what I think after”

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0: Couldn't finish1: Want my precious reading hours back2: Could have done without it3: It was good, but it's not an essential read4: Really liked it and glad I picked it up5: Absolutely loved it and would read again

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